Bremerton's 'Johnny on the spot' provides triage to city's complaints

Stansbery is city's front line of defense

JOSH FARLEY / KITSAP SUN
Joe Stansbery of Bremerton Public Works checks a water meter in Gorst. Stansbery is Public Works’ customer response representative, a fancy way of saying he’s Johnny-on-the-spot for the department.

Joe Stansbery of Bremerton public works scrubs off graffiti from a signal box at Sixth Street and Washington Avenue. Stansbery now receives an email each time there's new tagging somewhere in the city, and responds almost immediately. JOSH FARLEY / KITSAP SUN$RETURN$$RETURN$

Stansbery scrubs off graffiti from a traffic signal at 11th Street and Naval Avenue. Stansbery now receives an email each time there’s new tagging somewhere in the city, and responds almost immediately.

BREMERTON - The first line of defense for the city's roads and utilities is a man named Joe Stansbery.

He is part handyman, part-community liaison and full-time problem solver.

His title, as Bremerton Public Works' customer response representative, is an overly bureaucratic way of saying he fixes things on the spot, and if he can't, he reports them to those who can.

He fills in small potholes. Removes dead animals from the road. Turns on and shuts off water meters. Responds to sewer overflows. More recently, he's even been supplied with cleaners to quickly abate graffiti around the city.

Equipped with a truckload of tools, he fills his day with job after job, quick fix after quick fix.

"I respond to pretty much any call that comes into the city," said Stansbery, a Bremerton native who's done the job for six years and has been with Public Works since 1997.

He's the first face you'll see when problems arise in the city's Public Works network, and, if he can handle it then and there, the last as well.

Referring to the city's Public Works as a system dependent upon its many moving parts, Bremerton Public Works Director Chal Martin called Stansbery its "eyes and ears."

"His knowledge and experience gives us an idea of how the system is functioning," Martin said. "You can't do that job with a laptop."

Stansbery starts the day with a stack of work orders. As he crosses those tasks off the list, a steady stream of pages and emails come in to keep him busy.

Assisting residents is one of his favorite aspects of the job. He's been able to take care of problems that have at times saved customers hundreds of dollars.

The way Stansbery responds to citizens is about to fully enter the digital age. Soon, the city will launch an app that will give residents a way to quickly photograph and spot problems (via GPS) on a mobile phone.

Already, residents can use the site SeeClickFix.com to log in complaints. But the city's own app will not only allow them to file a complaint about graffiti but will keep them posted in real time in how the city is dealing with it.

Martin said graffiti is "a battle we have to fight." It makes communities look bad and makes residents uneasy, he said.

Seeing city crews cleaning it up makes the city feel "vibrant and active," he added.

Robert Parker, a Charlston business owner who's spearheaded efforts to make Bremerton graffiti-free, said Stansbery performs an integral task well.

"Joe's a real key guy in the city," he said. He's Johnny-on-the-spot."